It was a surprise visit that made Olympian Cheah Tong Kim’s day.
Yesterday, Normala Abdul Rashid, a representative of the National Athletes Welfare Foundation (Yakeb), visited Cheah at the Home for the Aged Simee Care Centre in Ipoh, Perak, much to the former swimmer’s delight. Normala, a former national women’s footballer, handed Cheah RM300 during the visit.
In a social media post this afternoon, Yakeb said that Cheah was “a little surprised by the visit but deeply appreciated the care and attention shown to him”. The foundation added it would continue to provide Cheah with a living allowance under its Special Aid Scheme initiative.
“We hope Cheah remains cheerful, enjoys the company of his friends at the home, and occasionally receives visits from old friends in the sports world who drop by to see how he’s doing,” the post read.
Cheah turned 80 on July 29. During an interview with Twentytwo13 in Ipoh on Aug 1, he said that during his career, he was Malaysia’s best breaststroke swimmer.
Besides the 1964 Olympics, where he was the lone ‘Malaysian’ in a team dominated by Singapore-born swimmers, Cheah also competed in two Asian Games – Jakarta, Indonesia (1962), and Bangkok, Thailand (1966) – and the 1966 Commonwealth Games in Kingston, Jamaica.
“I’ve had a good life. Eighty is a good number. I don’t want to live to 100 like our former prime minister (Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad),” he told Twentytwo13 during the interview.
“I may not have won medals at the highest level, but I hope my story can inspire young swimmers.
“If I had one wish, it is for every school to have a swimming pool so that we can have, pardon the pun, a bigger pool of talent to choose from,” Cheah added.
